(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine translation system for translating a first language into a second language, particularly to a machine translation system which is capable of correctly analyzing an inserted comment in a sentence of the first language and displaying the inserted comment translated to the second language in a distinguishable manner.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Much attention has been paid to automatic machine translation systems which input original documents written in a first language and translate it into a second language by the use of a computer, of late. Basically in these machine translation systems, the input original sentences are analyzed in view of each morpheme and its morphological construction as well as syntax, and divided into predetermined units for processing of words, phrases, or idioms. Then, dictionary or dictionaries for translation are searched and each word is retrieved from the dictionary for every processing unit of the words and phrases thus divided, and when the corresponding words and phrases in the second language, i.e., translated words and phrases are found in the dictionary, they are finally combined in accordance with predetermined translation and grammar rules, thereby obtaining the translated sentences.
However with regard to natural languages, since the analyzing technique is not well established, it is difficult to obtain a suitable translation of the natural languages. One form of the natural languages is an inserted comment. Namely, in the natural languages, the inserted comment such as a noun phrase, a verb phrase, an adverb phrase, a conditional clause, and a sentence etc. are used in sentences very well, therefore, it is difficult to analyze the sentences having the inserted comment. In a known type of machine translation system, the inserted comment is analyzed by enclosing the inserted comment with a mark for implying the insertion. However, the enclosing is carried out by an operator in the prior art system. Namely, the operator has to designate the inserted comment one by one in a pre-edit process, therefore, the designating operation is a troublesome work for the operator. Then, the outputted translation of the inserted comment is displayed in the same configuration as that of the other portion of the sentence Therefore, it is difficult work for the operator to distinguish the translation of the inserted comment.